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    RETRIBUTION- 243

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    ^ "I Have Done A Very Good Morning's Wor...

    mother could not leave home ; so she wrote to a cousin of my father ' s . in the south of Irelandwhom she had not seen for many years , but

    , ¦ with wlioni she had "been very intimate as a girl , and said she should "be grateful to her if she would take me in for the next autumn and

    ¦ winter . I don't know how much or how little my mother told her ; but it was a kindtender letter that came back , with hearty

    thanks to my very mother for , her suggestion , quite as if it would be a treat to Mrs . Mahon to have a sadsickly stranger to mirse . I

    , knew at once that I should feel at home with her ; and I went off far less sorrowfully than my mother expected . Still I got a little

    nervous as I reached the end of my journey ; and I was quite relieved to find no one was at home that evening but Mrs . Mahon herself .

    She was just what I expected ; very gentle , very loveable , and with a manner so intensely quiet that it seemed to rest one to be with her .

    As soon as I had had my tea , she placed me in an arm-chair by the fire , told me not to speak , but only to listen , and began to talk . To

    .. talk of her youth , of my father and mother , of a visit she had once aid to our home in Lancashire ; and then _rexy soon she glided into

    p knew her one she habitual had been subj left ect of a widow thmight _-vexy and young conversation 8 , with two —her boys sons , . now I

    young Beyond men that , the I knew elder of nothing whom , inherited much to his lier father satisfaction ' s large , propert for she y .

    was able to expa . tiate to her heart ' s content , and I gathered a good kn deal slie of information iving about For I them doubt ; rather if she more ever , understood I think , than them she

    thoroug ew hly was ; and g yet I . saw their characters from her rambling anecdotes and commentsand never had reason to change my opinion

    when I got to know , them intimately . Charles , the elder , was evidentlhowever _unconscioLisly to herselfher favorite . He had

    y , , inherited what his mother called his " genius" from his father . He hadin facta strong and delicate taste for literature , and a keen

    . appreciation , , of art , joined to a singularly sensitive and impressionable nature : but he certainly had not the power either to create or even

    to reflect his impressions in any other form . However , his mother thought he had geniusand as such it was received and considered

    in the family . lie had , her languid , inert temperament , and dreamed his time in an idleness which was considered by her something

    away sacredbecause he alwhad a book in his handor looked as if he was , thinking . He ays was at this time about seven , -and-twenty .

    Stephen was a year younger ; and if she loved Charles the best , she certainllooked to Stephen the most . He was in Dublin

    reading for y the bar , up and going to be well , anything he liked . Practical , steady , industrious , it was he who on his brother ' s

    attaining his majority had relieved Mrs . Mahon nominally , and her agent actuallof the care of the estate . Charles evidently leaned upon

    his brother y , with an unbounded trust and confidence ; and to do Stex _^ hen justice , he exercised authority simply because Charles

    n either could nor would take his proper place . If he had done so ,

    Retribution- 243

    RETRIBUTION- 243

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), June 1, 1860, page 243, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01061860/page/27/